The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the internet of things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The internet of everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “security technology” have been in demand for IoT implementation, a sensor network, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched.
Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
As communications technology advances, there is a growing interest in a communication method which interconnects various communication devices with the IoT and/or the IoE. For example, a smart phone of a user can be paired with a lighting device having Bluetooth functionality and thus the smart phone can control the lighting device.
FIGS. 1A and 1B depict pairing between a smart phone and a lighting device according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1A, there are three lighting devices 1, 2, and 3 in a home of a first user and three lighting devices A, B, and C in a home of a second user next to the home of the first user.
In FIG. 1A, when the first user wants to control a particular lighting device in his/her home using the smart phone 100, the pairing with a particular lighting device of the related art measures a received signal strength from the ambient lighting devices and provides the measured received signal strength information to the user so that the user can select the lighting device to pair with. For example, the smart phone 100 measures the received signal strength from the three lighting devices in the first user's home and the three lighting devices in the second user's home as shown in FIG. 1A. Next, the smart phone 100 displays the received signal strength of the lighting devices on a screen and requests the user to select the lighting device to pair as shown in FIG. 1B. However, the received signal strength of the lighting devices measured by the smart phone changes according to time and surrounding conditions, and it is difficult for the user to correctly select the intended lighting device merely based on the received signal strength of the lighting devices. Further, since the smart phone of the related art and the lighting device employ Just Work model of pairing models according to the related art, they can be exposed to a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM).
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.